Back to the Dreaded "Syncing with Outlook" question"...HELP!

[CatB]

Ok, so I finally found a solid syncing program to use for syncing my Outlook calendar and contacts with my Droid. Honestly, I have been using My Phone Explorer for about a year and was pretty darn happy. Recently, though I was having problems with my Outlook 2007 software and was given the option to change to Office 365 Home Premium which uses Outlook 2013. Happy as a clam - until I discovered that My Phone Explorer is not compatible with 2013!!!!!

Now, I am back to square one, though now it is a year + later and I am hoping someone can make a solid recommendation of a good syncing app for syncing Outlook calendar and contacts with my Rezound.

Anyone? Pretty please?????

Thanks!
Cat

 

[acejavelin]

I still don't understand the appeal of Outlook if you are not connecting to a Exchange server... and if you are, then just sync contacts to server, and setup a corporate email sync to the exchange server. If you are not using it for that, why not use Thunderbird or other email client, there are much better programs than Outlook for general email, calendar, and contact management use and can sync to Google with little effort. Also, why not use Gmail for everything, it can pull email from just about any POP3/IMAP email service and push it to your phone, it has Calendar, Contacts, etc and is accessible from almost any device. Plus there are apps to sync directly from Thunderbird to Android, like BirdieSync or your MyPhoneExplorer that you already use, which does not make use of proprietary protocols and formats which is the main issue with Outlook<->Android synching.

I guess what I am getting at is why are you stuck on Outlook? Is there a specific reason or feature it provides that keeps you stuck with it?

 

[CatB]

I still don't understand the appeal of Outlook if you are not connecting to a Exchange server... and if you are, then just sync contacts to server, and setup a corporate email sync to the exchange server. If you are not using it for that, why not use Thunderbird or other email client, there are much better programs than Outlook for general email, calendar, and contact management use and can sync to Google with little effort. Also, why not use Gmail for everything, it can pull email from just about any POP3/IMAP email service and push it to your phone, it has Calendar, Contacts, etc and is accessible from almost any device. Plus there are apps to sync directly from Thunderbird to Android, like BirdieSync or your MyPhoneExplorer that you already use, which does not make use of proprietary protocols and formats which is the main issue with Outlook<->Android synching.

I guess what I am getting at is why are you stuck on Outlook? Is there a specific reason or feature it provides that keeps you stuck with it?

Thank you very much for responding - much appreciated!

Here is my lame-o answer: because it's what I know! Seriously, I have been using it for years, I use Word and Excel for a lot of my documents so using Outlook became part of the package for me. Now, it is so ingrained in my brain, it's hard to shake it loose.

As for how I use it, I am not using a corporate account, this is just for me and my little ol' personal schedule/calendar, email and contacts. Honestly, I have had some many issues with Outlook, you would think I would have just abandoned it but as they say, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't!

So, that being said, right now, I have all my calendar items dating back to 2003 or so in my Outlook calendar. I always want to have access to them for nostalgic purposes. I use Outlook for my email (through Comcast) and I use Outlook for my 230 or so contacts.

How would I seamlessly (and painlessly!!!!!) transition to another option without losing what I consider to be valuable info? (Yikes! I'm having an anxiety attack just thinking about it!!!!).

Any suggestions on how to do this would be much appreciated. Maybe i will look back in a month or two and say "can you believe I was ever so married to Outlook?????". Also, please note, I am still somewhat of a newbie with detailed computer stuff so when people start talking about Exchange Servers, my eyes tend to roll back in my head

I appreciate your reply and look forward to your thoughts! Thanks, acejavelin!

 

[smalltowngirl13]

There are some options listed here - hope it helps... Sync Android/Droid with Outlook/Exchange

Good luck!

 

[acejavelin]

It has been awhile since I changed programs, my last major change was about 3-4 years ago when I dumped MS Office and went to OpenOffice.org and I never looked back, for that compatibility and importing was not an issue, it was all separate files and OO just opens them.

I dropped a separate mail client for at home years ago, and just use the web or Android client for Gmail/Contacts/Calendar... Google can be your friend here, most Outlook data can be exported in one form or another, and Thunderbird is able to import just about anything. BTW, Google can import/export most data as well (contacts, emails, calendar events). It might take a little work at first, but the benefits will likely pay off in the long run. You could always install both and keep using them both until you are comfortable with everything being moved too.

 

[CatB]

It has been awhile since I changed programs, my last major change was about 3-4 years ago when I dumped MS Office and went to OpenOffice.org and I never looked back, for that compatibility and importing was not an issue, it was all separate files and OO just opens them.

I dropped a separate mail client for at home years ago, and just use the web or Android client for Gmail/Contacts/Calendar... Google can be your friend here, most Outlook data can be exported in one form or another, and Thunderbird is able to import just about anything. BTW, Google can import/export most data as well (contacts, emails, calendar events). It might take a little work at first, but the benefits will likely pay off in the long run. You could always install both and keep using them both until you are comfortable with everything being moved too.

I am afraid that if I try to sync with Google and lose info from Outlook, I won't get it back. I am nervous because I still consider myself a newbie, more because I don't understand a lot of the details oft his stuff and I am afraid to be daring and experiment with different programs. Given that this is my nature, and i have a lot of appts in my Outlook calendar that I don't want to lose, which program would you suggest starting off with, that is fairly basic and tough to screw up?

 

[acejavelin]

Thunderbird is the most widely supported and has the most information out there, guess I would go with that if you want a stand-alone mail client... Otherwise, simple Google searches on how to export and import mail, contacts, and calendar events from Outlook to Google is the way to go.

Outlook to Google Calendar: Migrate events from other applications - Google Calendar Help
Outlook to Google Contacts: Transfer contacts between Outlook and Google Gmail - Outlook - Office.com

And the easiest way to move mail would be to enable IMAP in GMail, then setup your GMail as an IMAP email account in Outlook, then just drag and drop all the emails you want from one folder to another in Outlook.

 

[CatB]

Thunderbird is the most widely supported and has the most information out there, guess I would go with that if you want a stand-alone mail client... Otherwise, simple Google searches on how to export and import mail, contacts, and calendar events from Outlook to Google is the way to go.

Outlook to Google Calendar: Migrate events from other applications - Google Calendar Help
Outlook to Google Contacts: Transfer contacts between Outlook and Google Gmail - Outlook - Office.com

And the easiest way to move mail would be to enable IMAP in GMail, then setup your GMail as an IMAP email account in Outlook, then just drag and drop all the emails you want from one folder to another in Outlook.

Ok, I can look into Thunderbird, thanks.

You lost me at IMAP...I probably should know what the heck that means, but I don't, sorry. Is this a type of email, like POP3?

Also, does Thunderbird handle calendar, contacts and email? If so, can I keep my same email address?

And same question with Google - does it handle all 3 of those things? And do I need to change my email address? At this point, I really can't. Too many clients, biz cards, etc with my current email address.

I appreciate all your help. I really need to figure out over the next few days which way I want to go and just bite the bullet and do it.

Do you really think a lot of people are getting totally away from Outlook these days? And if so, what if they rely heavily on Word and Excel?

 

[CatB]

Also, acejavelin, FYI, I just pm'd you

 

[acejavelin]

Ok, I can look into Thunderbird, thanks.

You lost me at IMAP...I probably should know what the heck that means, but I don't, sorry. Is this a type of email, like POP3?

Also, does Thunderbird handle calendar, contacts and email? If so, can I keep my same email address?

And same question with Google - does it handle all 3 of those things? And do I need to change my email address? At this point, I really can't. Too many clients, biz cards, etc with my current email address.

I appreciate all your help. I really need to figure out over the next few days which way I want to go and just bite the bullet and do it.

Do you really think a lot of people are getting totally away from Outlook these days? And if so, what if they rely heavily on Word and Excel?

Yes, IMAP is way of communicating with email server, like POP3, IMAP allows folders and typically leaves messages on the server and doesn't remove them when "downloaded" like POP3.

Thunderbird is a full email client, and does all of the things Outlook does, and will allow access to just about any type of email address or account, so yes, you keep your email address (and existing email service provider).

Google does the same things, just in an online form... You will get a new email address ([email protected]) but you can use Gmail like an email client and it will pull emails from your existing account into itself, acting like Outlook/Thunderbird but in an online form.

Note that no matter what, if you want to keep your existing email address you will need to maintain an account with your email service provider... email addresses are not like cellular phone numbers, they cannot be "ported" from one carrier to another.

 

[CatB]

Well, as luck would have it, after all this exploring of different options for syncing my Droid with my Outlook Calendar and Contacts, it turns out that the program I had been using for the last year or more, and that I LOVED, now does sync with Outlook 2013!!!! I was so excited! This is the most seamless app for syncing Outlook calendar/contacts that I have ever used! I highly recommend it for anyone looking for something like this.

And best of all - it is FREE!!!!!

Here is a link, if you want to read more about it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fjsoft.myphoneexplorer.client&hl=en

FJ Software Development

Thanks for everyone's help!

Cat

 

[redfred]

I still don't understand the appeal of Outlook if you are not connecting to a Exchange server... and if you are, then just sync contacts to server, and setup a corporate email sync to the exchange server. If you are not using it for that, why not use Thunderbird or other email client, there are much better programs than Outlook for general email, calendar, and contact management use and can sync to Google with little effort. Also, why not use Gmail for everything, it can pull email from just about any POP3/IMAP email service and push it to your phone, it has Calendar, Contacts, etc and is accessible from almost any device. Plus there are apps to sync directly from Thunderbird to Android, like BirdieSync or your MyPhoneExplorer that you already use, which does not make use of proprietary protocols and formats which is the main issue with Outlook<->Android synching.

I guess what I am getting at is why are you stuck on Outlook? Is there a specific reason or feature it provides that keeps you stuck with it?

I think that most people use Outlook because their company chooses to use it. IT won't allow you to pick and choose programs. There are security isuues.

 

[acejavelin]

I think that most people use Outlook because their company chooses to use it. IT won't allow you to pick and choose programs. There are security isuues.

True, but this is a different circumstance than the OP was talking about... In his case he was using Outlook as a stand-alone client to access his personal email, maintain contacts, calendar events, etc, and not connecting to a corporate/hosted Exchange server as 99% of companies do. In that case none of this would be an issue, as Android (or iOS/BB/Symbian/WinMo/etc) all have provisions for syncing with all the required information with an Exchange server.

In the OP's situation, I still stand by my opinion. In a corporate environment, it's different, I use Outlook all the time and it works great, in fact it is open on my other monitor as I type this. And my mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and everything else are all synced to my iPad and Rezound, and a handful of other devices that I have setup as testing mode at the moment.